Trust In The Storm: A Pokemon White Nuzlocke
by SilverDann
Summary: Watch the victories and struggles of aspiring Pokemon trainer Aidrian, as he learns to cope with his new found ability to communicate with Pokemon, and as he tries to deal the brutal reality of life and death awaiting for him in his journey through the Unova region. Rated T for character deaths and strong language. Please review honestly. Constructive criticism is very encouraged.
1. Humble Beginnings

"Brother..."

"Brother, are you there?"

"Brother, please, speak to me."

 **"Yes brother, I'm here. Don't lose your head."**

"Don't do that again, brother. You had me worried."

 **"Your worry is unwarrented, brother. These mortals still have no idea of my precense."**

"Good. We need to keep it that way. But for now, just keep your ego under wraps."

 **"What do you think I have been doing all this time, brother? Believe me, this is no easy task you have asked of me."**

"I realize this, brother. But as it stands, the humans-"

 **"Can't know of our continued existence until the right time, yes. You seem to have forgotten that you have given this speech more times than I can count."**

"I apologize, brother. It just seems that you seem to be-"

 **"Forgetting the urgency of this task."**

"Please stop interrupting me."

 **"Listen to me, brother. You need not worry so much. Have you ever known big brother to be wrong about a prediction?"**

"Well... no, of course not. But still, that does not mean-"

 **"Brother, enough with this worrying. You need to-"**

 **"DO NOT INTERRUPT ME."**

 **"..."**

 **"** Brother, you are putting a lot of faith in big brother. And yes, everything he has said up to this point always turns out to be true. But with how vague his predictions always seem, can you truly blame me for feeling this nervous?"

 **"Vague or not, they're all we have to work off of. Do you remember the last time we ignored his advice?"**

"Fair point, brother. I suppose I should have more faith in big brother."

 **"Took the words right out of my mouth."**

"So, you said you felt him earlier? The hero?"

 **"Yes, I felt his presence. Brash and energetic, yet at the same time kind and willing to learn."**

"Hm. Sounds like your type, brother."

 **"Indeed. And have you felt your mortal yet, brother?"**

"Only slightly, but he is definitely there. Scarred childhood, naive mindset, but truly wants the best for everyone."

 **"Heheheh... He almost sounds like your old mortal."**

"Yes, quite. But nevertheless, I just hope these humans know what they're up against."

 **"Of course they do. Big brother says so."**

 **Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings**

"...and they were all found later that week in eastern Nimbasa City. Now, let's go to Leonard Kensey with the weather. Kensey?"

"Thank you, Michaels. Now, it seems as though the cold fronts of last week will continue into the next few days, with possible thunderstorms over the southern Unovian region. For your weekly forcast, you can expect a slight chance..."

Adrian awoke with a start. As he scraped to dry drool off of his cheek, he became to realize that he just fell asleep in front of the TV again. And the news was on? When did he turn on the news? Hm, Mom probably recorded it just to see the weather.

Adrian looked out the window to see that it was raining again for about the fourth day in a row, and it was really starting to get ridiculous now. Wasn't it, like, the middle of July? Though, now that he really thought about it, Adrian realized that he didn't really have much to complain about. He never actually hangs out outside anyways, and besides, he always found the gentle sound of of raindrops pattering against the window extremely relaxing, along with the sound of the rhythmic booming of distant thunder, it was enough to make him curl up in a warm blanket and just relax by the bedside and... and just let the... the...

Ugh! No, gotta stay awake! Gotta stay up for the "suprise". Adrian scrambled to his feet and ran circles around his room, trying to get the blood rushing to his head, and almost slipping on his "I heart Driftveil City" trucker hat. On his way, he caught a glimpse of a dashingly handsome man looking back at him in the mirror. Aidrian suddenly decided to take a moment to admire the beauty standing before him.

His matted cocoa brown hair, his "Moo Moo Farms" T-shirt with only two ketchup splotches (At least, he hoped that was ketchup...), his relatively spotless jeans, and eyes as green as muddy grass. It was at this point that Aidrian realized that he needs to work on his adjectives.

"Basking in your own glory again, I see." Aidrian whipped around toward the sarcastic voice to see his friend, Cheren, leaning against his bedroom door, a smug grin upon his face. He seemed to be sporting his usual blue jacket overcoat and black skinny jeans and a pair of amber prescription glasses or, as Aidrian would commonly call them, nerd-spectacles. He also had his black hair loose and flowing, with one gravity-defying cowlick hanging above his forehead.

"Didn't realize that breaking and entering was suddenly legal, four-eyes." Aidrian remarked with a sneer.

"Your mom let me in, dingus. By the way, she made brownies." replied Cheren as he pulled a brownie out of seemingly nowhere. "By the way, Bianca should be up in a few minutes. Don't know what's taking her so long."

"Bianca's coming up?" asked Aidrian, "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that 'suprise' you guys have been so cryptic about, would it?"

"Well actually, it's only kinda-" Cheren started, but he was soon interrupted by the loud stomping up the staircase and was soon followed by a loud blonde girl, carrying a green handbag, wearing a green dumpling-shaped hat with a short and frilly orange shirt and long white mini-dress bursting into the room. This was Aidrian's second friend, Bianca.

"Ehd ooh owh agh ore 'om aygh ow-ees?" asked Bianca while trying to chew a mouthful of brownies.

"Bianca, didn't your mother tell you not to talk with your mouth full?" responded Cheren, and Bianca quickly tried to gulp down her ginormous snack. As soon as she had swallowed the last crumb, she began speaking in her usual longwinded, nonsensical, crazy fast fashion. Aidrian couldn't really understand what she was saying, but he thought he heard something about Pokemon and Professor Juniper and really good brownies. Wait, Professor Juniper?!

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, Bianca!" interrupted Aidrian, "What about the Professor?"

"Hm? Oh right, Professor Juniper!" continued Bianca, "Yeah, she left something at my doorstep this morning, and it was addressed to all of us! So I went over to Cheren's house to tell him, and now we're here to tell you about it."

"Okay, so tell me about what? What's this 'something'?" asked Aidrian.

"Well, it's funny that you mention that..." replied Bianca as she pulled a small blue box with a green ribbon, "Because I happened to bring it along with me! I didn't want to open by myself since it was meant for all of us." Bianca set the box on a nearby table.

"Okay, so how do we decide who opens the box? Or should we all open it at the same time?" asked Cheren.

"I think a fair way to do it is to have the person whose birthday is closest to today get to open the box." Aidrian quickly responded. And before Cheren could even get a word in, Bianca agreed with with Aidrian's idea, and soon Aidrian was over by the box, trying fultiley to rip off the ribbon before anyone could blink.

"Bianca, you know the only reason Aidrian said that is because his birthday was last week." Cheren explained.

"Oh right, I forgot!" said Bianca, "So wait, how old are you now, Aidrian?"

"Yeah, I'm 15 now." responded Aidrian, preoccupied with the surprisingly strong ribbon, "Hey guys, this tag here? There's something else written on the back of it."

Aidrian read the note aloud:

Dear Aidrian, Bianca and Cheren,

Well, it looks as though the day has come. As of the day that you are recieving this gift, you are now all old enough to be legally certified Pokemon trainers. As such, in this box are three pokeballs, one for each of you, each one containing a Pokemon that you can all use to start your Pokemon journeys. And while I am quite exicited to have fresh blood in the trainer community, I have to warn all of you that if you choose to take these Pokemon and go on your very own journey, you will leave yourself vunerable to the much more dangerous parts of Unova. Now, I am in no way wanting to convince you to stray away from the challenge, I am simply asking that if you choose to take this path, you need to know what you're up against. I have much of confidence in all of you.

Yours truly,

Professor Juniper

P.S. To Aidrian, since I was late to get you anything, think of this as a sort-of late birthday present.

-End of Chapter 1-


	2. New Encounters

**Chapter 2: New Encounters**

Despite the slightly concerning note, Aidrian was still as excited as ever to finally get his first Pokemon. After he had Bianca untie the ribbon for him, Aidrian promptly opened the box to see three Pokeballs neatly laid out next to little white notes labeling each of them.

Snivy - Tepig - Oshowott

Grass-Type - Fire-Type - Water-Type

Responds To: - Responds To: - Responds To:

Rai - Markus - Lee

All three of them seemed like very good options in their own right. And considering the fact of how much this choice would affect the rest of his journey did not make his choice any easier to make. Aidrian struggled with his decision for several minutes, and then finally came to the conclusion that there was only one fair way to settle this conundrum.

He placed his finger on the right-most Pokeball, placed a hand over his eyes and began his advanced deduction technique.

"Ee-nie-Mee-nie-Mi-ney-Moe, Pick-a-Lie-pard-by-his-toe, If-he-hol-lers-let-him-go, Pro-fess-er-Ju-ni-per-said-to-pick-the-ve-ry-best-one-and-you-are-it!"

When he uncovered his eyes, he saw his finger was placed upon the left-most Pokeball, the Pokeball labelled "Snivy". With a nervous, shaking hand, he wrapped his fingers firmly around the Pokeball and picked it out of the box.

Aidrian's heart was pounding against his ribs. The feeling he had been yearning for so many years, the feeling of actually holding a real Pokeball in his hand, was almost more than his heart could take. With a satisfying click of the button, the Pokeball went from the size of a golfball to the size of a large baseball. Now, he remembered seeing people on TV opening Pokeballs just by throwing them up into the air, but was it really that simple?

Hesitantly, he lightly tossed up the ball and sure enough, the Pokeball popped open and a bright red beam sprung to the floor. Aidrian reached to catch the Pokeball from the air, and almost fell over doing so. As he looked down, he saw the Pokemon known as Snivy, a little green bipedal grass-snake with a yellow stripe running down the length of its back and maple-leaf-shaped tail and yellow markings around its large amber eyes. The Snivy who, according to it's card, went by the name of Rai looked up at Aidrian with a blank expression.

Aidrian, in that very moment, felt the biggest smile he had ever made spread across his face, even bigger than the time when he first moved in when he was eight and found out that he lived next to a real, dollars to donuts, Pokemon professor. He bent down so that he was at eye level with the little reptile.

"Hey, dere wittle guy!" said Aidrian in a baby-voice, "I'm your new fwiend now! My name's Aidwian!" Rai looked up at Aidrian with a face of exasperation. Apparently he didn't like being talked down to like a child.

"You wanna ride up on my shoulders, Rai?" asked Aidrian. Rai seemed to slightly taken aback for a second, as though he didn't expect him to know his name, then took a few steps towards him. Aidrian slowly picked him up (He was suprisingly very lightweight) and carefully placed Rai on his shoulders almost like a scarf.

"Awww, look at him!" said Bianca, squealing with joy and pinching Rai's cheek, "He's so adorable! And he's already gotten to liking you!" Rai quickly shot a nasty look at Bianca, then shut his eyes and settled into his new, comfy resting spot.

"Wow, you seem to be really good with Pokemon." said Cheren, "That or you just smell like the mud it sleeps in every night." Aidrian could tell that if Rai wasn't snoozing away on his shoulders, Cheren would have gotten the darkest death glare he had ever gotten in his life. In fact, Aidrian could have sworn he heard Rai snoring.

Aidrian picked Rai's note from the box, gave it another quick look and turned it over to see that there was more writing on the back. It read as follows:

 _Raising a Snivy:_

 _-Snivy, like many other Grass-types, gather their energy from the sun's rays. As such, they should be taken for walks in the sunlight frequently to keep them healthy and exercised. Lack of sunlight will leave them very exhausted._

 _ **-** Snivy are very adept with their vines, which protrude out of their shoulder blades and can reach a maximum length of 15 feet. Snivy are more used to using their vines than their hands, so keep them away from fragile objects placed on high shelves._

 _-Snivy should be fed regularly. Ordinary Pokemon food is fine, although they have also been known to enjoy a hearty meal of soil and roots._

Bianca and Cheren, after a lively debate, each picked out the own Pokeballs and care-cards. Bianca took the ball labelled "Oshawott" and Cheren took the ball labelled "Tepig". Out of Bianca's Pokeball came a little blue and white otter-looking Pokemon with a scalchop on it's belly, Oshawott, and out of Cheren's ball came a small orange and black pig Pokemon with a spring-like tail, Tepig.

After she finished hugging her little Oshawott named Lee and glazed over her card, Bianca chimied in, "Hey, now why don't we break in our new partners with a friendly little Pokemon battle, huh?"

Cheren responded, "I'm up for it if Markus is up for it!" to which Markus showed off his enthusiasm by hopping up on the table, puffing out his chest, letting out a mighty squeal and snorting smoldering smoke out of his pig-nose.

"I think we're going to have to sit this one out, guys. Rai seems pretty pooped at the moment." answered Aidrian as he cast an eye over the power-napping Snivy.

"Suit yourself!" replied Bianca, "Come on Lee, let's give it our all!" and Lee responded with an excited "Osha!", and Markus jumped down from the table and readied itself for battle before Cheren could even get a word out.

As Bianca and Cheren prepared for battle, Aidrian slowly lowered himself onto a nearby beanbag chair, trying his best not to wake Rai from his peaceful slumber.

Professor Juniper hurried through the rain in a heavy, bright-yellow raincoat, trying her best not to get her Poke-Radar wet. She couldn't possibly afford to replace it. Why did she have to be running through ankle-deep mud on this day in particular? She should be with Aidrian, Bianca and Cheren right now, personally welcoming the three into the wonderful world of Pokemon and seeing their faces light up when they get their very first Pokemon in person. Whatever she was called out here to do, Juniper hoped it would be worth her time.

"Aurea!" yelled a distant voice, "Aurea, honey! Over here!" Juniper quickly turned towards the voice and spotted her blond haired, squinting father, Cedric Juniper, wearing a matching yellow rainjacket and waving wildly in her general direction, and a few official-looking scientists all wearing white lab coats and carrying big umbrellas.

After trudging through the thick mud, she finally caught up with the group.

"Okay Dad, I'm here." said Aurea Juniper, almost out of breath, "Now, can somebody please explain to my why I'm currently standing in 3-inch high mud in the pouring rain when I should be giving three soon-to-be trainers a proper inroduction into the world of Pokemon?"

One of the scientists stepped out from the group, towards Aurea.

"We understand that you two are very busy at the moment, Mr. and Ms. Juniper, and we appreciate the time that you took out of your hectic schedule to be here, so I'll try to make this brief. Basically, we have reason to believe that Thundurus has reappeared in the Unova region! If this unnaturally strong thunderstorm in the middle of summer wasn't enough evidence, earlier we sent a weather balloon into the sky and the data we gathered proved to be exponentially different from the average summer thunderstorm, with very high humidity in the atmosphere"

"So, you suspect that a storm this strong and this wet to be works of Thundurus?" responded Cedric, squinting with geniune intrigue.

"That is the summary of it, yes." answered the lead scientist.

"Now hang on." chimed in Aurea, still not convinced. "You do realize that none of the Legendary Genies, let alone Thundurus, have been sighted in the span of whole decades?"

"Well, yes, but that's why we called you out here!" replied the lead scientist, "You see, we needed to search every route in Unova to try and track down Thundurus, and we knew that you are a professional Pokemon professor and that you were in possession of a Poke-Radar, so we figured we could kill two Pidgeys with one stone by calling you out here."

"Ooh, wasn't that nice of the big science man, Aurey?" toyed Cedric.

"Well... that is very thoughtful, I will say." replied Aurea, "But still, it would have been nice to know all of this beforehand."

"And again, we apoligize for that." said the lead scientist, "Now, what do you say? Will you help us make history?"

"Well, when you say it like that, you make it seem as though I can't say no without looking incredibly rude." answered Aurea.

"So you'll do it?" asked the lead scientist, and even in the heavy rain, Aurea could see his eyes light up. She turned to Cedric, who did a sort of half-nod, half-shoulder-shrug.

"Okay, than I'm in!" answered Aurea, "For the sake of Pokemon science and research!"

"Fantastic!" exclaimed the scientists as his fellow colleagues cheered, "Okay, so whenever your ready, just activate the radar and scan around the sky. Then, we can use the data it collects and take it back to the lab to see if we can get anything from it."

Aurea then promptly pulled out the Poke-Radar from her jacket pocket and positioned it under one of the group's umbrellas. She switched it on, set the maximum range to 6,500 meters, pointed it at the sky and hit SCAN. Turning in every direction to get every angle, she heard the radar go off a few times, but was too busy keeping the radar dry to see what the readings looked like.

After a few rotations, Aurea handed the radar to the lead scientist.

"Just be careful with it." warned Aurea, "If you break it, you replace it. Agreed?"

"Of course." assured the scientist, "We'll be sure to treat it with great care." He handed the radar to one of the other scientists, who put in in a shoulder bag he had on him.

"Well, pleasure doing business with you, boys!" exclaimed Cedric, "Good luck with your research!"

And with that, the two groups went their separate ways, shouting goodbyes over the pouring rain. Aurea and Cedric walked back towards the lab while supporting each other, arm over shoulder.

"Hey Dad?" inquired Aurea.

"Yes, honey-bun?" responded Cedric.

"Why did you want to come again? I mean, they only asked for me on the phone."

"Oh Aurey, you know I can't miss an opprotunity to see my little girl make such a big contribution to the science!"

"Riiight. This is about my 17th birthday, isn't it?"

"No, of course not!... Okay, maybe a little."

"You know you didn't need to climb on that professor, right?"

"He had a Venipede in his hair and I was just trying to get it out! That's all!"

"Whatever you say, Dad."

-End of Chapter 2


	3. Getting Real

**Chapter 3: Getting Real**

As Lee tumbled to the floor for the last time, Bianca quickly ran up to comfort him.

"Okay! Okay Cheren, that's enough! The poor guy can't take anymore!"

"You heard her, Markus!" said Cheren, picking up Markus, struggling to restrain the little Tepig, who was still raring to fight. Sensing the imminent danger, Lee quickly jumped into Bianca's protective arms.

"Cheren, you really need to learn to hold him back." scolded Bianca, firmly holding the shaking, whimpering Oshawott, "Lee could have gotten really hurt!"

"Oh come on Bianca, you're overreacting! And so is Lee!" complained Cheren, "Markus barely touched him! You saw that, right Aidrian?" A few seconds passed, "Aidrian?" The two simultaneously turned towards Aidrian to see him slumped over in a beanbag chair with Rai still laying on his shoulders, both of them snoring loudly.

As Cheren approached Aidrian to wake him up, Markus spotted Rai and snorted in an intimidating fashion.

"Calm down, little guy." Cheren muttered, placing a firm finger on Markus' snout, "That's the last battle you're gonna be having for a while."

After Cheren snapped Aidrian awake, he asked, "Dude, did you seriously just fall asleep in the middle of our very first battle?"

"Well, in my defense, all you two were doing was having them circle around each other, occasionally ramming into each other every 15 minutes." Aidrian sleepily replied, "Not very eventful if you ask me." As Aidrian stood, Rai let out an adorable little yawn and opened his crusty eyelids.

"Awww, hey there little guy!" squealed Bianca, noticing the drowsy Snivy, "You have a good nap?" As Bianca slowly walked over to pet the little reptile, Lee started shaking more violently. Bianca stopped and stepped back, realizing that Lee must be terrified of that terrible Tepig.

As Aidrian yawned and stretched, Cheren did a double-take at the window and raced over to it.

"Hey, isn't that Professor Juniper outside?" asked Cheren as he pressed a finger against the glass. Aidrian and Bianca approached to see that Cheren was indeed pointing at the professor walking through the heavy rain in a bright-yellow raincoat.

"It is! It is the professor!" assured Bianca, "Hey, how about we go over to her lab and thank her for our new Pokemon?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me." agreed Cheren, "I'll go grab my coat."

"You guys go on ahead." answered Aidrian as Rai jumped off his shoulders and onto a nearby bedside table, "I gotta get myself cleaned up and get redressed before I head out."

"Riiight, because you want to suck up to the professor as much as possible, and you can't do that when you look like you just crawled out from under a rock." mocked Cheren. Aidrian would have retaliated if what Cheren said wasn't completely true. After all, he needed as much credibility as he could get if he was to be trusted to take care of the professor's own Pokemon.

"Okay Aidrian, we'll see you at the lab!" said Bianca as she tromped down the staircase, soon followed by Cheren.

And with that, Aidrian quickly turned to his closet and began to rifle through it, looking for the least-filthy shirt he could find.

While perusing through his countless Nimbasa City T-Shirts, he heard a distinct "Thud" behind him, and turned to see that, apparently, Rai had just dropped Aidrian's family photo on the floor, to which Aidrian scrambled to pick up.

"Whoa whoa, careful there, buddy!" advised Aidrian, "I don't need you breaking this. Won't be able to replace it if you do." As he slowly placed the frame back on the table, Rai's vines let out a reassuring "Vi!"

"Hm, don't really talk much, do ya?" asked Aidrian jokingly, to which Rai responded with an honest-sounding "Sni-Sni-vy."

"Yeah." sighed Aidrian "If only."

Aidrian turned around and continued searching for the perfect shirt. Then finally, after a couple more minutes of looking, he found a completely spotless sports jersey for the Icirrus Blizzards.

"This one oughta be fi-"

 **CRASH!**

 **RUMBLE...**

A blinding flash of light covered the whole room, blinding Aidrian for a few seconds and causing his ears to ring in an extremely high-pitched whine. Suddenly, Aidrian felt a blistering current of pain spread across his left leg, causing him to collapse onto the floor. When his vision cleared, he saw, in a hazy view, a huge fire spreading across the ceiling and the bedroom filling with black smoke. Aidrian rose to his knees and struggled to try to get back on his feet to no avail, for he had gone completely numb in the legs. Behind the obnoxious ringing in his ears, Aidrian thought he heard some sort of muffled, distant voice. Once the ringing subsided, he heard his mother's voice shrieking from the bottom floor of the house.

"Aidrian! Aidrian, honey, are you all right!? Can you hear me?"

"Y-yeah Mom! I'm-I'm all right!" lied Aidrian, feeling short of breath. He quickly abandoned his effort to get the feeling in his wobbly legs back, and began to crawl on his hands and knees, which still proved to be difficult, as Aidrian frequently struggled to stay upright.

He shouted Rai's name over and over again to no response. With his mind racing at a mile a minute, Aidrian considered the fact that maybe Rai wasn't able to survive the flames, but quickly pushed the thought into the back of his mind as he focused on inching his way towards the stairs, maneuvering around the flaming support-beam debris falling from the ceiling.

Fighting to keep from blacking out, occasionally slipping and tripping on nothing, Aidrian had just about reached the staircase and had nearly grazed his fingers against the railing when the roof above the stairs gave way with a loud CRASH, covering his only escape route with a giant pile of flaming lumber. Aidrian heard what he recognized as Bianca's terrified scream coming from downstairs.

Aidrian reared his head and desperately scanned the room for another way out of this new hellscape. For a split second, he considered jumping out the window and hoping for the best. But his thoughts were soon cut off when a giant oak wood plank crushed him under it's weight, smashing his ribs against the floor and knocking the wind out of him.

Aidrian could feel himself slowly losing consciousness. His whole body went completely numb and the noxious gas of the carbon monoxide began to fill his lungs. His vision almost completely gone, Aidrian felt some sort of rope tighten around his waist.

Then everything went black.

-End of Chapter 3


End file.
